Heroes of the Victoria Cross TUL BAHADUR PUN
“AMONG THE COMRADES SAVED WAS MAJOR JAMES RUTHERFORD LUMLEY, WHOSE NOT-YET-BORN DAUGHTER WOULD HAVE A SIGNIFICANT INFLUENCE ON PUN’S LATER LIFE”
he men of the 3rd Battalion, 6th Gurkha Rifles, watched in dismay as Acting Captain Michael Allmand, a respected company commander who had proven his courage in previous engagements, crawled ahead of his unit towards the Japanese machine gun nest. Wading through mud and shell holes, he seemed unstoppable – until a burst of fire struck him down, a wound that would ultimately prove fatal. The enemy bullets continued to tear into the dwindling Chindit forces from across the rail bridge in the Burmese town of Mogaung. A war hero had fallen and, unknown to those who had witnessed it, a posthumous Victoria Cross recipient had risen. But Michael Allmand VC wouldn’t be the only recipient of Britain’s highest military honour that day – 23 June 1944 – Gurkha rifleman Tul Bahadur Pun was about to
